Delapre
Abbey
Simon de
Senlis II, the second earl of Northampton built Delapre Abbey in
1145. The Abbey of St Mary De-le-pre (St Mary in the Meadow), until
the middle of the 16th century, was the home to the nuns of the
Cluniac Order when it was dissolved along with all other abbeys by
Henry VIII
in 1583.
The abbey has led a rather quiet existence for most of its life but
two other important events were to happen in the coming years.
Devastated at the death of his beloved wife in 1290, Delapre Abbey
became a rest stop for Queen Eleanors funeral cortege. Wife of King
Edward I,
he took her body to be buried at Westminster Abbey from Lincoln. At
every rest stop made, he had a cross built in memory of her. A
total of 12 were commissioned. Erected in 1291, the Eleanor Cross
is one of only three surviving crosses and stands on the London Rd
at the corner of Delapre estate.
Celia Fiennes:
Ye way out of town towards London you go by a Cross a mile off the town Call'd High-Cross, it stands just in the middle of England, its all stone 12 stepps wch runs round it, above that is the stone Carv'd ffinely and there are 4 Large Nitches about ye Middle, in Each is the statue of some queen at Length which Encompasses it wth other Carvings as garnish, and so it rises less and less to ye top like a tower or Piramidy.
There is no record of what happened to
the top of the cross or when it disappeared but local legend
believes that Cromwell's army hacked it off during the Civil war of
1642 but this is just folk legend. 200 years previously, on July
10, 1460, Henry VI was taken prisoner and his queen fled to
Scotland. We are told that the flight was watched by the Archbishop
of Canterbury from the hill of the Headless Cross, which indicates
that the Eleanor Cross on the London Road outside the abbey grounds
had already had its top broken off.
The second momentous event was when the Abbey became a prison to
Henry VI.
A huge battle in the fields between Hardingstone and the nunnery,
known as the Battle of Northampton, saw the defeat of Henry
VI
by the Yorkists and his subsequent arrest. Delapre Abbey witnessed
the Battle of Northampton which only lasted a couple of hours. A
total combined head count from both forces amounted to over 35,000
men. Amazingly only 300 Lancastrians were slain.
A year after the abbeys and monasteries were forced to close,
Delapre was bought by the Tate family in 1539. 200 years of Tate
ownership saw the abbey converted into a country house. The house
was sold on to the Bouverie family in 1764 and they became the last
family to own it. The last of the generations of Bouveries died in
1946 leaving no heirs. The Northampton Corporation owned it until
they surrendered the lease to the Borough council in the hope that
the abbey can be developed and protected. Today, it is maintained
by the charitable trust Friends of Delapre Abbey. With it's 500
acres of parkland and 8 acres of more formal gardens, it is one of
the most beautiful public gardens in Northamptonshire. The walled
garden is situated on the ancient site of the nun's burial ground
and evidence of medieaval and ancient tombstones were discovered
during its construction in the 1890's. It is thought that one tomb
was of Simon de Senlis II himself.
On a lighter note, Delapre's only permanent resident is that of a ghostly nun, known as the Blue/Grey Lady because of the colour of her habit, (the habits of Cluniac Nuns were blue). She is said to walk the Abbey in the vicinity of the old nunnery. Over the centuries, there have been many sightings of the Blue/Grey Lady, most frequent sightings are on the main staircase
In recent years, two sculptures were introduced to the wall garden.
The work of Walter Ritchie, they were gifted to Northampton in 1977
after being displayed at an exhibition of brickwork sculptures at
the Building Centre, London. The large brick panels depict episodes
in the adventurous life of the mythical lady, Sarah
Wellington-Gore, entitled "The Lady with Kittens" and "The Lovers".
Another statue was introduced in 1978. This was the "Woman and the
Fish", by Frank Dobson. Originally it stood in the Memorial Gardens
in the town centre since 1951where it had been totally vandalised.
It was then repaired and transferred to its current position in
Delapre's walled garden.